Week 18. 22nd -28th December.
This is going to be an unusual week since I want to finish the year running the San Silvestre race at
El Ejido, at thirty kms from Almería. It will be held on Saturday at 5 pm. I took part last year for the first time and I liked the atmosphere quite a lot. It is a 2.200 m. course along the main avenue but you have to run it five times which is a bit boring but as other athletes overtake me I´ll never be alone. It is 11kms long. Last year I did it in
63 minutes. I hope I´ll be able to lower it a few seconds.
On
Monday 22nd I had a rest. On
Tuesday, I left home at 9 o´clock because I´m on holidays. I usually have to go for a run at 6.30 a.m. when it´s still dark and a bit cold . It´s great to run with the sun shining, feeling neither cold nor hot, looking at the sea while plodding and happy to start my training for Madrid marathon on 25th April if everything is all right. I decided to wear my old trainers since I felt uncomfortable in my right ankle with the new ones I had used for the first time last Saturday while I was doing a similar course to El Ejido´s San Silvestre race in which I intend to take part next Saturday. First I did some warming-up and stretching, then I went running feeling my legs still a bit stiff after last Saturday´s 12 kms and Sunday´s ride on bicycle. I started at the sea front just opposite where I live as far as the end of the first part of the sea front. It took me 16´55´´. I came back and when I had been running for 23 minutes I went faster one minute and slower the next minute for three times. Then I got to the starting point again in 33´33´´. I went on until I had done
40 minutes. In all, I did about
6 kms. Then I walked backwards for about four minutes and did some stretching, especially on my calves. I saw some other runners, most of them faster than me but I´m glad I have started my preparation although my wife thinks I shouldn´t run longer distances than a half marathon because she thinks I can get an injury easily but I can´t help trying it since I want to live again the magical experience of finishing a marathon.
On
Wednesday, I drove to Pechina, a little town near Almería at the foot of Sierra Alhamilla, because a friend of mine, Manuel, spends Christmas holidays there at her mother´s house. He lives in Barcelona and has taken part in many marathons and half marathons such as Barcelona, Madrid, London, Athens, New York. He took part in N.Y. marathon last November finishing in 3 hours 30 minutes. I met him through the internet in Almería last September and I told him that at Christmas I´d like to run from Pechina to Baños de Sierra Alhamilla, a beautiful place up in the Alhamilla range of mountains with a spring of hot water and a spa. We left from the town centre at 9.10 and went along some streets to the lonely steep road that leads to Baños de Sierra Alhamilla.
http://www.almerianatural.com/ It was a sunny day with a cloudless sky. Although Manuel is used to running faster, actually, the previous day he had done the same run in 53 minutes, he didn´t mind going at my pace. I had to walk a few times one minute because I felt some discomfort in my right calf. I think it is because I´m not used to running uphill and because on Monday I did some fartlek running. We finally got there in 71 minutes. It´s a sort of oasis of peace far from the maddening crowd. We stopped to drink some water and have a bar of cereal and peanuts. Then we went to the spa hotel to get a leaflet on the baths you can take and the hotel price. It is not expensive and the place is really quiet with great views of the Andarax valley and Almería´s seaside. You can see from there Cabo de Gata, a beautiful seaside town, twenty-five kilometres from Almería. Then, we decided to go down. It was more comfortable. I didn´t have to stop running to walk a little although when we were getting to Manuel´s house my calf hurt again so we did the last five hundred metres walking. It took us 55 minutes. In all, we did
126 minutes and about
16 kms. We did some stretching and went to Manuel´s house where he offered me a drink and some tapas but I only had a glass of coke. He showed me a video he had done with the photos he had from New York marathon. Although I had some problems with my calf, I really enjoyed the run. I liked the landscape a lot and I enjoyed Manuel´s company a lot. He´s a great person and it is wonderful to be able to run and talk at the same time about a lot of things. He´s going to run Valencia marathon on 1st February and then Barcelona´s on 21st March. He told me to go to Barcelona to run the marathon but I don´t know if I´ll be prepared. However, as there´s at the same time a 14 km race I may take part as a sort of test for Madrid marathon and run the first third of the marathon. I´ll probably wait for Almería half to see how I am getting on. By the way, Manuel is coming to Almería half. He´s already entered and booked the flight. I´m sure he´ll enjoy a lot. When I got home I rubbed some ice cubes on my calf and I had a shower with cold water on my leg muscles.
On
Thursday,
Christmas day, my legs were a little stiff so I decided to go on a bicycle ride for one hour. I took my mountain bike and I went to the lighthouse at Almería´s port at half past eight a.m. There were just a few people around.
http://www.almerianatural.com/toda%20almeria.htm It was sunny and the sea front was nearly empty. I went towards the port and at the lighthouse there were only three of four anglers trying to fish. I came back to the sea front and went to the dry river. I saw a man running when I was near the bridge on Andarax river. I know him by sight because he´s taken part in some races that I´ve been to and I´ve seen him several times training with a running club. At the river mouth I went down the bicycle and jogged a little to see how the calf was. It was much better than yesterday but I don´t know if it will be all right for El Ejido´s San Silvestre race. Then I came back along the sea front. I rode about 15 kms. I think it will help me get better for Saturday.
On
Friday, I decided to rest for Saturday since I wanted to finish El Ejido´s San Silvestre race and I still felt discomfort in my right calf.
On
Saturday, I went to El Ejido to take part at the San Silvestre race. My brother José also came with me but he didn´t take part in it.. We arrived half an hour before the race. I was given my number and a bag with a T-shirt and a local newspaper which is not bad taking into account that the enter is free. I met some runners I know from other races or by sight when training. I greeted my friend Antonio L., who had done the inscription for me. I warmed up a little before the race started at 4.30. It is
11 kms, five laps at the main avenue. I did the first lap with a young man I had met in another race who told me he hasn´t trained since Almería half on 1st June because he doesn´t have time but he´s quite good because without training he finished in 59 minutes. Then, I had to run alone the whole course but as there were people overtaking me it is not too boring except the last lap when most runner had already finished. The people cheered up and my brother took photos of me. Although they announced that the electronic control was closed one hour after the start and I still had to do more than one kilometre, I went on finishing in
sixty-nine minutes feeling well but a bit uncomfortable in my right calf. It took me six minutes more than last year which is a bit disappointing but I think it is because this year I had to run alone for more than 9 kms and mainly because of the calf discomfort.
On
Sunday, I went on a
bicycle ride. I went by car to Complejo Calatrava
http://www.hospederiadeldesierto.com/ near Tabernas , 38 kms from Almería where I went on a bicycle trip with a group of cyclists from CTC
http://www.ctc.org.uk/ who are riding in Murcia and Almería at Christmas. I met Alan, the group leader, at the hotel. I´ve known him for several months. There were people from several countries. Most of them from UK: Cumbria, Manchester, Scotland, etc , USA and Australia. I chose a not too difficult route and went with Dave, from California and Lorraine, from Sydney. They´re very friendly and we enjoyed the ride a lot. It was a sunny day but windy. We went to Lucainena de las Torres
http://www.indalia.es/mipueblo/lucainena/ where we stopped for a drink and had some mantecados ( Spanish Christmas product made of flour, sugar, cinammon, lard) which they liked a lot. Then we went uphill to Turrillas
http://www.indalia.es/mipueblo/turrillas/ where we stopped to have some tapas at a bar and a sandwich at a park with wonderful views of the ranges of mountains. Then we went down hill and on a flat road to the hotel. In all, we did about
35 kms enjoying the landscape, the company and everything except the wind. At the hotel café they had a cup of coffee while I had a cup of poleo, which is a sort of green camomilla ( herbal tea ) with some mantecados and turrón ( nougat ) and had with all the cyclists who were at the hotel café. We had a wonderful day and it has helped me to practise my English, do a different sport and meet friendly people from other countries.
Summary of week 18. I went for a run only three times but I did 6 + 16 + 11 kms. I also went cycling two days doing 15 + 35 kms. It has been a different week because I went up to Baños de Sierra Alhamilla and I took part at El Ejido San Silvestre race. As I had some problems with my right calf after the training at the Baños I preferred not running four days in the week and changed one day for a bicycle ride.
[ 3 running days / 33 kms + 2 cycling days / 50 kms ]
